Fun times..

So, today I went to Dr. Mahdavi's office to get results from my latest scans. The scans came back good, my tumor has gotten a little bit smaller and the Pet scan showed very little activity. Dr. Mahdavi wants me to get another scan in two months to track the progress, but I will still be going into his office monthly to check my blood work. (My blood work today was good, my white cells and platelets were normal and my red cells-hemoglobin were slightly below normal.) He recommended that I make an appointment with my doctors at UCLA just to keep them in the loop and give them the results of all my tests/scans. After I left Dr. Mahdavi's office I decided to go pick up copies of my previous scans so I would have them when I go to UCLA. Right when I walked into the building, I started having vision problems again. I started seeing weird oil spots in the right side of my field of vision. It really freaked me out. Luckily Dr. Duma, my neurosurgeon, was there and he took me in and examined me right then and there! He did a couple neuro checks with me and looked in my eyes, he shined a bright light in my right eye and I could barely even notice the light. He is fairly sure that this is not a neurological problem- he said I would have seen spots out of both eyes. He referred me to an opthamologist that he highly recommends and the soonest his office could get me in was Wednesday. I left Dr. Duma not feeling very good at all. The vision problem slowly went away but my pressure headache came back, plus my anxiety level was very high. I started having problems finding the words I wanted to say, I couldn't even remember the name of my favorite thai food restaurant! I was really freaking out! My friend Jame' tried to calm me down and try to get me to relax. She took me to get some lunch since I hadn't eaten all day. I really didn't have an appetite, but as soon as I sat down and had a few bites I started feeling much better. I am still feeling the pressure in my head, and I am still experiencing dizziness especially when I first stand up to walk around, but my vision is normal now and I'm talking much better. I'm home and I am just trying to relax right now.

The past few days have been very hard on me and gave me a lot of anxiety, especially building up to to today's doctor appointment and trying to deal with the loss of another friend of mine with cancer. I have a lot of faith, no matter what. I continue to believe that even though I'm going through a lot I am going to be ok! I started doing accupuncture for my pressure headaches and it has been helping a lot. Thank you to everyone for all your continued support, I will definitely keep you updated.

Dictated by Renee, transcribed by Jame'